While I wouldn’t call this the best book on craft I’ve read, it’s good and if you are ready to heed his advice, Stein offers plenty of gems, particularly on writing dialogue and editing. He offers a wealth of examples of good writing and unlike other books on craft, shows how the principles of good writing are as true for non-fiction as they are for fiction. I got this as an audiobook, but the delivery was very dry, probably better as a print or digital book. Keep in mind though it was written in 1995, so much of his talk about literary agents and editing software is woefully out-of-date. But the craft is still the same.
No. 26 of 100 books I intend to read and review in 2020.
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Patrick Sherriff is an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at his conversation school in Abiko, Japan, with his wife, he writes and illustrates textbooks for non-native speakers of English, releases Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, essays and a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction published in English about Japan. Saku’s Random Book Club is his latest project to spend more time with books.
Patrick Sherriff 